Lower fat banana bread, latkes, and chickpea cutlets

This container made me laugh; can you find the typo?

When I'm not eating lots of soy ice cream or crossing my fingers for snow, I've been busy making a few of the less photogenic recipes in Veganomicon. A theme for this entry could probably be brown foods that weren't even worth a photograph.

My first recipe was the Lower Fat Banana Bread made into muffins. My mom and I both agreed that the muffins were a little dense, but I think it would have been a perfect consistency for banana bread, especially smothered in peanut butter.

After that I made the chickpea cutlets. I can say in complete honesty that this recipe was everything I expected and more. I took the baking route and they were perfect in every way. The flavor and texture were both great. I had the chickpea cutlets plain for dinner and then cut one up and had it over salad today. It was better than the Boca chik'n patties that we normally buy, so I'm thinking about making a lot of chickpea cutlets and freezing them for the future.

My dad made the potato latkes from Veganomicon, which were also delicious. So far I love Veganomicon; all of the recipes I've tried and looked at have been amazing.

Happy Chanukkah!

Apple Pie-Crumb Cake Muffins

The recipe I promised:

Apple Pie-Crumb Cake Muffins
adapted from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Vegan with a Vengeance

For muffins:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup apple cider (if you don't have cider, you can use water instead and increase the total amount of sugar to 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup grated apple
1/2 cup chopped apple (1/4-inch pieces)
1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts or almonds

For Topping:
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1 tbsp canola oil
1/4 cup roughly chopped walnuts

In a small bowl, mix the topping ingredients, drizzling on the oil and mixing with your fingers until crumbs form. Set aside. Preheat oven to 375°F and grease twelve-muffin tin.

In a large bowl, sift all the dry muffin ingredients. Stir in the wet ingredients. Fold in the grated and chopped apple and nuts.

Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full and sprinkle the topping over each muffin. Bake for 22 minutes.

Falafel, samosa, veggies

Today's lunch was rather monochromatic, but still pretty yummy. Premade falafel (from the freezer section) in whole wheat mini pitas, green bell pepper, giant pretzels, a banana, and a homemade apple crumb cake muffin. The muffin is an edited (and dare I say, improved?) version of Isa's recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance, which I will hopefully get around to posting in the next few days. If I forget and you're just on the edge of your seat waiting (which I'm sure you all will be) feel free to post a gentle reminder for me.


As Passover draws nearer in my household, though, the food choices continue to get narrower. We basically clear out the entire fridge and as much of the freezer as possible for Passover, so right now we're trying to finish things up. I, of course, am not a big fan of lack of selection, so I went out and picked up a couple samosas and some Indian food for dinner. For those who don't know, a samosa (shown above) is a savory Indian pastry filled with spiced potatoes and peas, wrapped in dough, and usually deep fried. I've made baked ones at home, but they aren't nearly as good as the terrible-for-you fried version. To make up for the unhealthiness of the samosa, I water-sauteed some asparagus and baby carrots with sesame seeds and packed some Cheerios on the side.

Quinoa with black beans

What's a girl to do when the cupboards are bare? Make quinoa! I've been in a bit of a rut lately with my lunches (and with cooking in general) so I decided to be a little more interesting today with the meager fixings I found around the kitchen. I sauteed a carrot, some garlic, and bell pepper with some salt and pepper, then added most of a can of black beans, 1/3 cup of quinoa, and 2/3 cup of water. Put a cover on the post and let it simmer for 15 minutes and a meal is ready. This made about twice the amount that you see here in the lunch box.

While the quinoa cooked, I made a potato with black pepper in the microwave and grabbed a carrot raisin muffin. I was a little disappointed with these muffins. They are edible, but I probably won't make them again. I had to cook them about 15 minutes more than the recipe stated and they still didn't all completely cook. I'm not sure what was going on, the recipe was from Vegan with a Vengeance so I was really surprised that it didn't work.

Some fruit on the side, an orange, some grapes, and a not-in-season, not local, not very tasty apple. That'll teach me not to eat grocery store apples.

I'm thinking about finally purchasing a Laptop Lunch Box. They're cute and more convenient than the container I currently use because the sections don't leak into each other. Anyway, if shmoo uses one, I want one, too! According to an email I got today, the new laptop lunch box is improved and will be going up in price soon. I guess I should get on it if I'm really going to order one of these.

First lunch of the new year

Starting out the new year with an actual lunch. Hopefully soon I'll get back to things that are a little more interesting soon, but for now I'm in a bit of a rut. I have mint double stuff Oreos, a pumpkin cranberry muffin, and a pita bread with natural peanut butter.

If you ever find yourself in New York near Queens it is imperative that you take a trip to Queens Pita in Flushing. The thick pita there is the closest to Israeli pita that I've ever had in the US. They make it fresh and you can buy it by the bag to take home. If you think pita is a dry crumbly bread you are in for a surprise. Queens Pita is soft and absolutely delicious.

One of my friends carries around a big bag full of fresh fruits and veggies and just snacks all day. Since tomorrow is one of the days when I have to stay at school until 5PM, I decided to follow her lead. Next to my lunch I have a container with an apple, cantaloupe, and carrots.